ABSTRACT
Ought in this sense is not Ought-to-Do, which refers to a volitional subject. It is only an ideal or pure Ought-to-Be. Because something is in itself a value, it does not follow that someone ought to do it; it does mean, however, that it Ought to "Be", and unconditionally—irrespective of its actuality or even of its possibility. The positive Ought-to-Be can be clearly distinguished from the ideal Ought-to-Be. It occurs where the ideal finds itself in opposition to reality, where the self-existent values are unreal. The range of the tension between man-as-he-is and man- as-he-ought-to-be determines the degree of positivity. The dimension of the Ought is primarily the purely axiological dimension between value and disvalue. The essence of the Ought-dimension with its polarity of value and disvalue is identical for every Ought. The Ought-to-Be is only a modality, and in the first place a tendency.
